


First Summon - Ishtar

by zanna



Category: Fate/Grand Order
Genre: Gen, Nonbinary Character, Summoning, angst kinda, but close enough, master oc is not human
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-02
Updated: 2020-12-02
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:07:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,133
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27844204
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zanna/pseuds/zanna
Summary: It was all a lot to be taking in.
Kudos: 3





	First Summon - Ishtar

**Author's Note:**

> I haven't written anything serious in the better part of 10 years now but Fate kicked my ass into drawing a lotta stuff and now its kicking my ass into writing something. P nervous posting here for the first time but uh. Hope you enjoy if you give it a look. Zanna as a character is from a bunch of personal worldbuilding stuff, I kinda chuck them at current interests and see how I can mesh them into these worlds, how they'd react to things, survive, etc. 
> 
> Did you know Ishtar has different summon lines depending on when you get her? Finding that inspired this whole mess.
> 
> I don't really touch on it but this includes my headcanon that servants you get at the end of singularities just kinda summon themselves in. They love u.

Zanna had made it out of the destroyed city and singularity Fuyuki to the shock of both themselves and to the doctor formerly assigned to keep an eye on them. With Mash in one piece, and the rest of everything in shambles. Waking up alone in a new room with the lasting memory of the ground splitting apart...

It was all a lot to be taking in.

The last of this world’s humanity was all in some large facility off in the mountains, and due to a bizarre set of circumstances they were the last shot at saving it now. Heroes from this world’s timeline were somehow summoned back to the present for aid, and Zanna was supposed to be tasked with commanding them and in some part providing for them. The weirdo who’d tossed them in a cell was now some sort of demon, or served one, with the goal of incinerating human history.

It had been a few hours since doctor Roman explained entirely what was going on to them and Mash, and that they’d need to rayshift again within two weeks. They let out a long sigh before pushing themselves up and out of bed again, determined to learn just a little more about this place they’d be living at for the foreseeable future.

That’s how they’d found themselves wandering into what they now knew as a summoning chamber for these heroic spirits. 

As the door shut automatically behind them, deep blue lights seemed to switch on around the circular chamber automatically, bathing it in a quiet dim light. The room held a large symbol akin to Mash’s shield shape in its center, and as the weredragon approached it, the room suddenly lit up, a bright light now hovering above the shape at the center.

As it dims a familiar voice sounds out, “Oops! I guess this time I’m materialized as a Caster?” 

With the light less blinding, Zanna opened their eyes to see the one who had helped their group in Fuyuki, Cu Chulainn if they remembered, standing where it’d been. The Caster looked to them then a bit surprised, but it quickly morphed into a grin. 

“Oh, it’s you guys! We met before right?” He steps over to them as they stare, then blink rapidly with a short shake of their head.

“I uh, yeah, wow um. We didn’t lock you into coming to this place or something, right?”

Cu made a small curious noise at that before barking out a short laugh. “No not all! I came to Chaldea of my own accord I’m sure. Besides,” he leans back and looks down at them, fist on his hip, “looks to me like you need all the help you can get, Master.”

Before they could retort the doors slid open and a flustered Dr. Roman all but skidded into the room, anxiety seeming to turn to relief as he saw the two looking back at him. “No one was monitoring the summon chamber, how did- no no, I mean it’s great that we have a new servant here but-!”  
He takes a deep breath composing himself, and then Mash comes in with a worried look.

“You could have gotten hurt Master!” 

Zanna turns to the two, before looking back at the new servant, and then back again with increasing confusion.

“Ok. Hold on, first off yes we probably do need your help thanks again? In advance? Whatever, second,” they turn back to the doctor, “where are new additions gonna live, do we have enough space in this place?” 

The latter part is almost all said as if to themselves, worriedly putting their chin in their fist as they tried to wrack their brain to solve this ridiculous new problem.  
Luckily Roman speaks up with a bit of a shocked laugh from the idea that the weredragon’s first thought was lodgings of all things.

“We have um. Plenty of rooms available don’t worry about that-“

Cu cuts him off, striding out with a short laugh, “Alright figure out what you need to, I’m gonna take a look around the place.”

Zanna watches him leave before rubbing both palms over their face and into their short hair, too much. This was too much for what was supposed to have been a quick exploration of the facility. They take a deep breath, Roman is saying something they aren’t really hearing, maybe to Mash or one of the few staff left.  
Roman saying their name snaps Zanna’s attention back up to him though, having missed whatever he had been asking of them they just give a blank stare back. 

He gives a short exasperated laugh to brush it off, “I was saying that we should try a proper summoning again now that you’re here. It went well enough out on the field for a first try, but we’ll need all the help we can get, and now that you’re rested and out of danger,” They only barely dampen their wince at that, “You may be able to put more magical energy into it?”

The doctor looks hopeful, and though they feel nervous to the whole idea they know that he’s right. Being in servant battles in Fuyuki only proved just how powerful these people were, and if that was primarily what they’d be facing going forward? No way could they turn down more help.

“That would make sense, I still don’t really get how the whole,” they wave their hands in a vague gesture, “magic circuit thing works, but I’ll try.”

Da Vinci’s voice then rings clear through the room from a speaker, “We’re lucky you had the ability to rayshift and the compatibility to be a master! A little lacking in the magecraft department but we’ll cross that bridge down the line.” 

‘Lucky’ feels wrong, but Zanna knows better than to voice that. Guilt from leaving a world to die aside, if they’d truly wanted to they could have left the moment the alarms went off. There was no need to rush off and help the girl they’d only briefly spoken with upon landing in the facility, but they had. There was no turning back now.

“Yeah. Yeah I guess so huh.” A thought crosses their mind then, “Hey, this whole heroic spirit thing, you can’t summon uh. Gods or the like with it right?” 

Dr. Roman breathes out a small laugh, “Definitely not, even if we could summon specific servants with this system, something like that would require an extremely skilled mage if it's even possible at all.”

A tension that they didn’t know was there lifted, good. They turn back to the summoning chamber and take a breath.

“Alright, I think I’m ready then.”

Dr. Roman steps out with Mash in tow, a small ‘Goodluck Master!’ is heard before the doors slide shut and they step back towards the circle, nervousness buzzing beneath their skin. 

“I pulled out some catalysts from storage for this, so you should get someone pretty strong! It's still random as to who, but you’ll be summoning within the Archer class. We won’t be doing it this way often though, we’ve only got so many of these catalysts after all~! ☆” 

They rock back and forth on their feet for a moment as Da Vinci explains the summoning, taking a few more deep breaths as the markings on their wrists flicker with anticipation. As she finishes up, they put their hand out and call out a shaky “Ready!” 

The room lights up once more and they close their eyes, concentrating on the feeling of drawing out what this world called mana, limbs shaking and twitching a bit with the effort as both a flowing and pulling sensation overcame their nerves. Swallowing and opening their eyes once more they watch the same bright glow overcome the center of the room, though now it held a rainbow tinge to its edges before it blinded them entirely.

“Oh! Guess we were wrong about that.” Da Vinci’s pleasantly surprised voice calls out across the speakers.

“Yoohoo! You’re looking as laid-back as ever! But I’m relieved. That’s how you should be.”

Immediately they felt the pressure of what they knew to be a divine being, though it held a warmth all the same. On edge now, Zanna stumbled back from the summoning circle as they struggled to readjust from the flash. When their vision was no longer spotty their eyes widened and posture tensed at the being before them. Dr. Roman had been wrong. 

The Archer they’d summoned was a goddess, no two ways around it. She floated off the ground by a few inches, clad in what Zanna could only loosely call a dress, with a mix of gold metal and white fabric. There was a large… something. Floating alongside her, looking like two bows without strings, a deep lapis lazuli blue with gold patterning throughout it. Something in Zanna’s mind told them it was some sort of boat, master senses or something they figured as they shook their head a bit.

“Huh? You don’t know me? You don’t remember me?” The goddess’ red eyes widened and she leaned forward, letting herself stand and take a quick step forward that had Zanna immediately stepping back from.

She looked surprised by their reaction to her, almost offended as she raised a hand to her chest. 

“...I see. Well, that’s no surprise, I guess.” She straightens up with a grin, lifting off the ground to rest on the strange boat. 

“I am Ishtar, Goddess of Beauty and Governor of Venus. Fear me and do your best to satisfy me with tribute and reverence!” Despite the threatening statement, she spoke as if to an old friend.

Once again Zanna found themselves thinking this was all too much. They stepped back from Ishtar with a slow shake of their head, slitted green eyes locked on the goddess and body tense. Every nerve in them screamed at them to get away from this being, that their own god beings back home were watching, waiting for them to merely speak to her so they could sever the weredragon’s life then and there. 

Despite the reflex they didn’t feel the mental pressure of judgement for their predicament. With a start they realized that they should have been terminated the moment they chose to save Mash, the decision forcing them to take a side in what was absolutely a fate changing battle for this world. They chose to file that away in their mind. Whether or not their world approved of them speaking with gods, Zanna didn’t personally trust any.

But now that they’d mentally established they weren’t in danger, they realized they’d been tensely glaring at Ishtar in silence since she arrived. Shaking their head again the weredragon does their best to relax their posture. 

“Right. Okay. That’s not gonna happen, not to start things off rough here, but I’ve never seen you in my life and I don’t really make a habit of befriending gods.” They put out a hand nonetheless.

“My name is Zanna, and I’m your Master or uh. Something. Just call me by my name please.” Having anyone call them ‘Master’ still felt wrong even if it was the established term.

Ishtar laughs at this, not taking their offered hand and giving them a look of disbelief. “What? I thought you were over the whole god thing! Considering who you were with and all…” 

Her face scrunches up a bit at the last bit but she almost snorts as her laughter returns, nearly losing her balance on the boat.

“Who I’m with? I’m not, I haven’t had any kind of relationships in this world-” Zanna replies almost instantly with their own disgruntled expression, turning to walk out of the summoning room. While they could feel Chaldeas had handled most of the magical energy needed for summoning, what they’d had to supply had still drained them. Lunch and a nap sounded great.

“Oh? So that hasn’t happened yet either eh?” Ishtar’s voice had a teasing tone as she floated over alongside them, a sly smile on her face that Zanna missed as they tried to quicken their pace away from her.

“Please. _Please_ stop talking like you know things about me.” Their tail tip flicked back and forth in irritation, this had really not been what they were expecting of this summoning thing.

A door opened behind them then, with Mash and Dr. Roman jogging over to introduce themselves, the latter of the two seeming to trip over his words as he briefly babbled on about how this was such an improbable feat. Ishtar barely acknowledged him beyond a “Nice to see you in the flesh!” remark, only leaving the group more stunned again.

“I’m gonna grab something to eat and go to my room. Today’s already been a lot.” Zanna said, hoping the others would take the hint that they wanted to do so alone.

Mash looked worried for a moment, almost looking like she wanted to reach out to them before settling with, “Alright senpai, please get some rest if you need it! And let me or Doctor Roman know if you need us.” 

They smiled at the demiservant, giving a nod and wave as they walked off to the cafeteria.

Only Ishtar didn’t leave.

The goddess glided up alongside them before dismounting and falling into step with them. Zanna responded by speeding up their stride, long ears pinning back, pointedly not looking at Ishtar even as she easily kept pace with them. Curse servant speed. With a sigh they fell back to a normal pace as the pair neared the cafeteria. 

A few staff members sat around the rounded room, as well as two of the Riders they’d summoned back in Fuyuki, Martha and Ushiwakamaru, who both looked up from their table at Ishtar’s presence, a bit surprised at the powerful new addition. Zanna waved to them offering a small tired smile before going to the counter to grab lunch.

Throughout the whole excursion, even as they brought the tray back to their room, they didn’t speak to Ishtar, lips pressing together as they stood at their door and gave an exasperated sigh.

“Alright. You’ve followed me this whole time. What do you want.” They barely kept the snap out of their voice, levelling a hard stare at her.

“What do I want? Are you sure you want me to say?” Ishtar responds, crossing her arms with a teasing smile.

They take a breath before they speak to calm down, frustrated enough with her antics already. “Don’t mess with me right now, please. You know what I mean.”

“I just want to spend some time with you is all! That isn’t so weird is it?”

Well. She wasn’t wrong there. Despite the desperate circumstances in Fuyuki Zanna had still tried their best to get to know their newly summoned companions on at least a surface level then. Realistically had their newly summoned Archer now been a non divine person they’d likely push through their exhausted state to chat a little. But Ishtar’s presence alone bothered them, on top of her strange quips about what they could only assume to be future events.

Still, with some hesitation they relented with a sigh, opening the door and walking in to sit at their desk, shoving aside papers and sketchbooks to make room for the tray. Ishtar sat back in the boat, floating above them a bit as she watched them tuck into lunch.

“Not gonna offer any to me? God or not that’s just being a bad host.” There was no real venom behind her words, just an almost exaggerated pout.

Zanna raised an eyebrow at her, swallowing their bite. “You could have gotten something back in the cafeteria you know.”

Still, they offer a couple fries, at which the goddess snatches with a flourish and confident smile, seeming happy with the shared food. Zanna rolls their eyes. The two eat in silence for a moment before the goddess speaks up again.

“You don’t have many other servants yet huh? I remember you were able to summon a whole bunch back then… How many singularities have you cleared now?”

Again with the talking like they’ve met already. It was frustrating them to no end, they knew nothing about this goddess but she seemed to know an awful lot about them.  
“Yeah, with you we’ve got our first really strong Archer class too. I figure Throne or something let you know about the situation here when you answered my summons, but we haven’t even started with the singularity mess. Well, beyond Fuyuki, but there’s still seven to go before we’ve got things remotely cleaned up.” The thought was still daunting.

“Oh? I guess I’m here pretty early then, explains why you’re nothing like you were back then. Have you even shown anyone what you are yet?”

That comment freezes their blood and they find themselves tensing up again, head snapping over to look at Ishtar. 

Their voice turned cold. “What do you mean.” 

Every muscle once again felt coiled and ready, a fight or flight response automatically starting up and buzzing under their skin. 

Ishtar just smiles down at them. “Come on really? You’re going to be working with these people for a whole year and you haven’t even let them know the whole dragon thing yet?”

Now fully alarmed by her antics, Zanna stands abruptly, lunging forward a step before stopping themselves, as if to take a swipe at the goddess. Ishtar doesn’t so much as flinch from the action, maybe seeing that there was no real intent behind it. Zanna steps back towards the bed then, getting some distance between the two of them. Their breathing was almost frantic, wisps of blueish smoke trailing from their mouth and markings glowing in a low almost pulsing pattern.

A limit had been reached on how much of this they could handle right now. Ishtar simply watched all this, obviously amused as they took a few deep breaths to compose themself.

“Leave me alone. Please.” 

For a moment the goddess looks about to tease them some more, but she shakes her head with a smile. “Alright alright, who would have thought you were such a buzzkill early on.”

Before they can snap at her though she’s at the door and says in an almost sing-song tone, “See you around, Master!” Before the strange boat zips off down the hall at a high speed.

Someone else would have to deal with that right now. Zanna simply slumps down on the edge of the bed as the door slides shut automatically, once more pressing their palms against their face and into their hair with a deep sigh. This whole Master business just got a whole lot weirder.

**Author's Note:**

> hee hee hoo fate brainrot go brrrr


End file.
